Safety device for punch boards



June 7, 1938. c. E. BURNETT ET AL SAFETY DEVICE FOR PUNCH BOARDS Filed Aug. 5

wumko'ns CHARL ES E- B'UR/VE 7' 7" 1N0 .0 MA Y GUM/MAM Patented June 7, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Charles E. Burnett and Application August 5,

'7 Claims.

The present invention relates to punch board games of the well-known type that are used for amusement and in various ways to assist in the sale of merchandise.

One drawback in the use of such boards has been the custom of unscrupulous persons of surreptitiously punching the boards without informing the attendant, or the other players, of such acivity with a consequent loss of revenue to the establishment, or an unfair advantage resulting to the person.

Certain devices have been proposed, whereby an indicating mechanism is associated with the punch or with the board, whereby, when a punch is made, a visible or audible signal is actuated. These devices, however, apparently have not proved commercially successful, and one reason appears to be that while in order to actuate the signal a particular punch must be used with the 20 board, they have not provided any means that have necessitated the use of the particular punch in order to successfully operate upon the board.

As a consequence nails, matches or other instruments can be used to punch the board without actuating the signal.

One object of the present invention is to provide a novel system wherein the punch is associated with a signal or indicator, and including novel means whereby the use of an instrument other than the proper or authorized punch, is prevented.

,Another object is to provide a board having novel means whereby only a proper punch may be used to operate successfully upon the board.

Still another object is to provide such a structure which will not increase the difliculty of or complicate the punching operation.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic elevation showing one embodiment of a system using the device.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a punch board.

Figure 3 is a detail elevation, partly in section.

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail plan view.

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail vertical section.

Figure 6 is a broken plan view.

Figure '7 is a perspective view of a form of punch needle.

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 6 showing a modification.

Figure 9 is a perspective view showing a modifled form of punch needle used in the modification shown in Figure 8.

Figures 10 and 11 are perspective views showing still other modified forms of punch needle.

0 May, Punta Gerda, Fla.

1936, Serial No. 94,464

Describing the drawing more particularly, a punch board II has a usual body portion i2 formed of any suitable material, and having therethrough vertically disposed bores iii, in which are contained indicators II, which may advantageously be folded strips of paper bearing numbers or other indicia. The indicators l4. contained in the bores, are intended to be removed in the well-known manner by means of a punching instrument inserted through the top of the board. A special punching device is designated generally I5, and comprises a casing l8, within which may be mounted a counting or registering mechanism H, which is operated to register each stroke of a plunger IS in a well-known manner. The plunger i8 extends from the casing l5, and the end has a socket I9, which is provided with holding means, advantageously as shown clearly in Figure 5, as threads 20.

The plunger I8 is also provided with a circuit closing device, shown in Figure 1 as a spring contact 2| mounted upon the inner end of the plunger. Associated with the spring contact 2| is a fixed contact 22 assembled with the device It so that upon the inward movement of the plunger i8, contact will be made between the members 2| and 22. The members 2i and 22 are arranged in a circuit, including wires 23, a source of power, and a signal, as a bell, 24. It will be appreciated that a visual signaling device may be substituted for the audible device 24.

Mounted in the threaded bore 20 of the plunger by means of a threaded head 25, is a punching instrument or needle which comprises a shank 25 extending from the head 25.

The punch board II has associated with it and overlying the body portion ii, a sheet of fabric 21 which is preferably relatively stiff, and to some extent puncture-resisting, so that when the needle 26 is pressed downwardly over one of the bores Hi, the fabric 21 will offer sufficient resistance to the downward movement of the punch to cause the plunger ill to move inwardly with respect to the casing l6, thereby causing the operation of the register I! and closing the switch 2l-22. And overlying the fabric 21 may be a guide sheet 21a having perforations that overlie the bores lit to indicate their positions.

From the above description, it will be appreciated that when the device I5 is used to punch one of the indicators H from the board, that the plunger [8 will be pressed inwardly by the contact of the instrument 26 with the paper, and a signal will be given, indicating that a punch is being made and the punch will be registered on the counter.

This arrangement is very satisfactory, but it is desired to provide means whereby other instruments, such as nails or matches will be excluded from the punch board, since their use would avoid the operation of the signal and counter. In order to provide such a structure, the following arrangement is provided.

The punch member 20 is formed with a special cross section, which may be of anysuitable design. As shown in Figure 7 it is crescent shape, and comprises a wall 28 surrounding a bore 29, and having a slot 30 along one side. Assembled with the body portion I! of the board II is a guard plate 3| which is preferably mounted between the body portion i2 and the fabric sheet 21. The guard plate is made of any material which will suitably resist distortion, and is preferably made of a metal of suflicient thickness to provide the necessary resistance.

The guard plate 3| is provided with a plurality of openings 32 that are so spaced that when in assembled relation with the body portion ll! of the bores, one special opening lies within the area of each of the bores. The openings are shaped to correspond with the cross section of the punching instrument 26, so that the material surrounding them will closely engage the instrument and will permit its passage, but at the same time will exclude the introduction into the bores I4 of instruments which are not properly shaped to pass through them.

The operation of this arrangement will be clear from the foregoing description.

In Figures 8 and 9 a modified form of punching instrument and a corresponding form of guard plate are shown. In this modification the openings 33 of the guard plate are formed by a plurality of thin slots 34 that are joined together at one and the slots radiating from a center. The needle 35 being used with this form of guard plate, comprises a threaded head 36 for engagement in the socket IQ of the plunger and comprises a plurality of thin blades 31 equal in number to the slots and arranged as to size and angular adjustment to correspond with the arrangement of the slots 34. In this form of device, very thin blades may be used due to their mutual strengthening effect, and it has been found that blades of steel of a thickness of three thousandths of an inch are perfectly satisfactory, the slots being made four thousandths of an inch in width to' provide ample clearance for the blades 31 and at the same time reduce the possibility of the introduction of other instruments to a minimum. The ends of the blades of such thickness, form a thrusting surface that is ample to push the indicators I4 from the respective boards.

Figures 10 and 11 disclose additional forms in which the punching instruments or needles may be made if desired. From the illustrated forms it will be clear that a great variety of shapes may be used, and that any shape which proves satisfactory is included in the scope of the invention. The material making up the needle may be very thin, ordinarily from three to four-thousandths of an inch being ample, because of the arrange ment of the needles to provide the necessary stiffness to punch through the board and thrust out the indicator. The advantage of such thin material is, of course, that it allows the corresponding openings in the guard plates to be very line and thus increase the diiiiculty of successfully using unauthorized implements upon the punch board.

The-advantages of-the described device will be readily appreciated. Its use will prevent a punching of a board unknown to the attendant or owner by the use of improper implements, such as matches or nails. The fact that the plate can be made of such very thin material, renders its cost very low. It will of course be appreciated that the device may be used without an indicator oi. any sort, merely by the use of a punch that is arranged to pass through the openings of the guard plate, the intention here being that it will simply prevent unscrupulous persons from applying other implements and the attendant may keep the proper punch under his control, or it may be used with a signal, but without a counter.

Counting devices, such as indicated at H are generally provided with turn-back devices having operating knobs extending through their casings. While such a device is advantageous in the counter used in connection with this device, it will be appreciated that it would be undesirable to afford the opportunity of resetting the counter to persons using the punch. To obviate this possibility the turn-back operating device is entirely enclosed in the case and the operating shank ll terminates at or below the surface of the case, so that it cannot be grasped, and the end of the shank is provided with a keyhole 39, into which a key may be inserted to reset the counter.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the construction, operation and many advantages of the herein described invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, without further description, and it will be understood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

What we claim is:

i. In a punch board including a body having a plurality of bores therethrough for containing indicators, a guard plate of deformation-resisting material assembled with the body and having narrow slots therethrough, the said slots being associated respectively with the different bores, the said guard plate at the edges of the slots preventing the removal of indicators from the bores by an instrument other than one having the correct cross sectional design to pass through the slots permitting the insertion only of an instrument having a cross section fitting the said slots.

2. In a punch board game in combination, a board having bores therethrough for containing indicators, a guard plate assembled with the board and having openings associated with the bores, the said openings each comprising a plurality of narrow slots joined together at one end of each, and a punch comprising a plurality of blades, each having an edge joined to the edge of the other blade, and arranged to correspond to the arrangement of the slots, the ends of the blades forming a thrusting surface for engaging the indicators in the bores.

3. In a punch board game including a board to be operated upon by a punch, in combination, a punch havingia thin blade for operating upon the board, a device operated by said punch for indicating each operation of the punch upon the board, and a guard plate assembled with the board and having a plurality of narrow slots to permit the punch to be introduced through them to operate upon the board, the portions of the guard plate surrounding the slot preventing the introduction of instruments other than thin blades.

4. In a punch board including a body having a plurality of bores therethrough for containing indicators, a guard plate of deformation-resisting material assembled with the body and having openings therethrough that register with the bores, the said guard plate having projections that extend into the areas of the bores that restrict the openings and permitting the insertion only of an instrument having a cross section shaped to pass the projections.

5; In a punch board including a body having a plurality of bores therethrough for containing indicators, a guard plate of deformation-resisting material assembled with the body and having therethrough a plurality of curved slots, the said slots being associated respectively with the bores 01 the body, the portions of the guard plate surrounding the slots permitting the insertion only of an instrument having a narrow blade or proper dimensions and correctly curved to pass through the slots.

6. In a punch board game, in combination a body having a plurality of bores therethrough for containing indicators, a guard plate of deformation-resisting material assembled with the body and having an opening associated with each of the bores, projections carried by the guard plate and extending respectively into the areas oi the bores to restrict the size and shape 01' the openings, a punching instrument having a blade of proper cross section to pass the projections oi the guard plate, and means associated with the punching instrument to indicate each punching operation performed by it.

'7. In a punch board game, the combination with a body having a plurality of bores therethrough for the reception of indicators to be removed by a punch, and a punch having a thin blade curved transversely to impart rigidity thereto and to aflord a bearing surface at the end, of a guard plate of deformation-resisting material assembled with the body and having slots therethrough registered with the bores, the said slots being 01' substantially the same size and shape as the cross section or the blade of the punch.

CHARLES E. BURNE'I'I. 0 MAY. 

